When Dakota came around to, Javier was no longer there. She sat up straight and searched for signs of Javier, but to no avail. Then she went downstairs to check if he was in the living room.
He was gone.
She sighed, knowing that she must've been dreaming. Yet that was the very first time she ever dreamt about Javier. Would that be the first, and the last time?
But she couldn't simply shrug off the dream that felt so surreal. She saw the stones, talked to Javier, and even at some point of time playfully pushed his shoulders. What she couldn't remember; was how Javier looked like. Everything was crystal clear, except for his face. It seemed as if she was entirely talking to a person that she completely didn't exist, but she just knew that it was Javier.
"Javier?" She tried calling out again, but to no avail.
She went back into her bedroom to get ready for school. Whilst combing her hair, she noticed long, red scratches down her nape. It was huge, and it looked as if it had been there for a long time like a scar. Slowly but gently, her fingers glided down her nape, tracing the outlines of the scars. It didn't hurt, though.
Dakota was scared, because she had never seen anything like this before. She had never inflicted hurt on herself, even when she was sleeping. She was afraid of blood, and especially, afraid of death.
She sighed, and simply put on a red polka-dotted headband with her hair let down to cover up the horrifying scratch marks.
Dakota went downstairs to the dining area to get breakfast. It was always thoughtfully prepared by dearest mother, and they were usually her favourites. She made sure that her mother couldn't see the scars as she walked past.
"Thanks, mom." Dakota smiled and walked towards the dining table with a plate full of pancakes and syrup.
She had wanted to take a bite but the mere sight of it reminded her of Javier. She remembers that he loved pancakes, and that they always had it for breakfast together before school. Prepared by her mother, too.
She fell into yet another daze, taking a longer time than usual to finish her pancakes.
Once she was done, she slung her bag across her shoulders and headed for the door.
But her mother stopped her."Dakota, are you going to school like that?"
"Yes, mom." She flashed a quick grin at her mother, making her way to the door in the most unsubtle and quick manner to escape her mother's vision.
Her mother frowned, but then her usual affectionate smile appeared on her face again. "Okay, you look nice in this anyway. Be safe at school, alright?"
Dakota nodded and brisk-walked out of the door.
As she walked to school, she fell into her own train of thoughts again. It was uncontrollable. She couldn't help but reminisce about the past, thinking about how they would sit at the edge of the jetty and talk about their lives in the future. They would live together for the rest of their lives, and die together if one leaves the world first - they simply cannot do without one another. They had hooked fingers to seal the promise, for eternity.
"Cross my heart, Javier!" The sentence rung in her head as Dakota thought, and tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ears just like how Javier did.
They were best friends. Only that Javier treated her more than friends, and that she didn't know how to feel about him.
She didn't realise that she was amidst a road and a blaring honk sound jolted her awake. Javier immediately disappeared. Little did she realise that she almost got into a car accident, because the car was only a few centimetres away from knocking her over.
She mumbled several apologies to the unforgiving driver and quickly made her way to the side of the road.
"What was I thinking? I almost got myself killed!" Dakota berated herself and hit her small little head.
Then, her nape started to hurt. She pressed her palm on her nape, in an attempt to alleviate the pain. She must've twisted her neck in shock earlier on, she thought.
Dakota casually swiped her palms on her uniform and continued walking towards the school. Passer-bys were giving her strange looks, some even pointing at her uniform. She looked down, and to her horror, she saw strains of blood.
Her nape was bleeding.
